Your Daily DeVos: With final vote looming, Democrats hold the floor

President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has exerted plenty of influence as a billionaire philanthropist, Michigan political figure, and school-choice advocate.

But she’s usually done so out of the spotlight. Now, as U.S. senators consider whether to confirm her as secretary, she’s coming under sharp scrutiny from lawmakers, policy wonks, journalists, and the general public.

That can make for an overwhelming crush of new information, and we’re here to help you keep up.

We’ll be highlighting the most important developments in the unspooling DeVos story until a final confirmation vote. Nominate the stories that help you by emailing us or tweeting with #dailyDeVos.

Here’s what caught our eye today:

Monday, Feb. 6

1. DeVos’s final confirmation vote is set for noon on Tuesday — and it’s still looking like Vice President Mike Pence will have to cast a historic tie-breaking vote.

2. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow offered some intrigue late Monday, telling CNN that there might be another Republican preparing to vote no.

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Thursday, Feb. 2

1. DeVos got the votes she needed in the Senate’s education committee on Tuesday, but her nomination is now in danger after two Republican senators said they would cast their final votes against her. Vice President Mike Pence may end up casting the deciding vote.

2. Her confirmation also gained one notable opponent — another billionaire school choice advocate, Democrat Eli Broad, who urged senators to vote against her.

3. If DeVos isn’t confirmed, she’ll be the first Cabinet picked derailed by the party of the president in nearly 100 years.

4. A looming complication: If the Senate confirms its own member, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, to become attorney general, before the DeVos vote, Sessions wouldn’t be able to cast a vote the Republicans need.

5. Inspired by DeVos’s own giving, a Pennsylvania teacher launched a crowdfunding campaign to buy Sen. Pat Toomey’s confirmation vote. (Toomey has said he’s definitely voting for DeVos, who gave his campaign nearly $58,000.)

6. DeVos cited graduation rates for online charter schools that are significantly higher than their official rates in a defense of those schools in response to Sen. Patty Murray.

Monday, Jan. 30

1. The Senate education committee is set to vote on DeVos’s confirmation tomorrow — and she’s likely to get the votes she needs. Here’s why.

Friday, Jan. 27

1. Democrats are going to vote as a bloc against DeVos, according to Minnesota Sen. Al Franken. (That still won’t be enough to keep her from being confirmed.) And several senators are asking for more information about donations made to her political organizations.

2. DeVos’s influence has stretched far beyond Michigan: the Orlando Sentinel says her extended family has spent $2 million in Florida politics and that she helped get that state’s voucher program off the ground.

4. Should it matter that DeVos’s school-choice advocacy group never paid a $5.3 million fine levied against it in Ohio? Some of Cleveland’s editorial writers think so.

Thursday, Jan. 26

1. DeVos is expected to be confirmed. But some Senators have received tens of thousands of emails, letters, and phone calls opposing her nomination.

2. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she’s supporting Ben Carson’s nomination to lead the federal housing department in order to be able to “turn up the heat” on DeVos.

3. After stumbling over a question about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act during her confirmation hearing, DeVos tried to reassure a lawmaker this week that she understood the law and was committed to enforcing it.

4. DeVos’s empire includes investments in Whole Foods, energy bars made of crickets, and lumber manufacturers. There’s also a Gary Busey connection.

5. From the National Review: The U.S. education system is too unwieldy to respond to anything but one big, bold idea like school choice, DeVos’s focus.

Wednesday, Jan. 25

1. A lot of Senators have issued statements about why they will or won’t support DeVos’s confirmation. Here’s a vote tracker so you can keep up.

2. DeVos’s family spokesman says she supports gay marriage. She faced sharp questioning during her confirmation hearing about her family’s support of groups that have promoted “conversion therapy.”

Tuesday, Jan. 24

2. Sen. Lamar Alexander defended school vouchers as not being “subversive or new” in a speech (and Medium post) urging his colleagues to confirm DeVos.

3. A Carnegie Mellon professor wonders whether DeVos’s backing of Neurocore, which hasn’t published evidence about the efficacy of its treatments for ADHD and other conditions, spells trouble for education research.